1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a management device, an output device, a device management method and a computer readable medium.
2. Related Art
JP-A 2002-304283 (Kokai) proposes a display device with portability which allows an ability of a user interface of a computer to be carried on and used.
The display device shown in this document has a function of receiving image information through a wireless communication channel from a host computer located at a fixed position and displaying the image information on a display unit. Furthermore, this display device is furnished with a user input device for touch input such as a pen which also allows the user to perform input operation. Combining these two functions allows the user to use an application program on the host computer. That is, this display device provides means for using the user interface of the host computer at a fixed position remotely while providing portability.
The same document also explains a device called a “docking station” to accommodate a display device to house the display device. The docking station is installed at a fixed position and communicates with the host computer through wire connection. The docking station is connected to user input devices such as a mouse and keyboard.
The display device operates in two modes; a mode accommodated in the docking station (“dependent mode”) and a mode not accommodated in the docking station (“independent mode”).
In the “independent mode”, the display device communicates with the host computer through the wireless communication channel and is used as a portable user interface device.
On the other hand, in the “dependent mode”, the display device is fixed to the docking station and thereby temporarily loses the characteristic of portability. Instead, the display device can provide high quality image display through the wire connection and can also charge a battery by receiving a power supply from the docking station. Moreover, because the fixed keyboard and mouse are available, it is assumed that the user may preferably use the keyboard and mouse rather than touch input using a pen.
In the above configuration, it is only when the display device is operating in a “dependent mode” that the display device can be used in combination with the keyboard and the mouse. That is, to use the keyboard and mouse, the user needs to carry the display device and move to the location of the docking station and use the computer at that location.
However, even if the display device has the touch input function using a pen, this is inconvenient for a large amount of input and even in a place where there is no docking station, there can be situations in which it is more desirable if the keyboard and the mouse could be used. For example, when the user wants to input minutes to a file on the host computer through the display device in a meeting room where there is no docking station, it is inconvenient that the keyboard cannot be used.
When attempting to make a keyboard and mouse available in a place where there is no docking station, since the keyboard and mouse are devices independent of the display device, it is necessary to provide means for transmitting the result of the input operation to the host computer.
Specifically, one possible method is to connect these input devices such as a conventional keyboard and mouse to the display device through wire connection. This method is apparently simple and provides reliable operation but it cuts in half the advantages of portability and wireless feature. Moreover, the display device needs to be provided with a connector for wire connection, which increases the weight. The display device must convert a signal from the input device to a wireless channel signal and moreover it also needs to deal with a case where an input device which has a similar function as the mouse and yet has a characteristic different from the mouse such as a trackball and tablet is connected instead of the mouse, and therefore the display device needs to have the ability beyond that of a simple display device.
Using a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse compatible with wireless communication, which is becoming widespread in recent years, can avoid some of the disadvantages of the above described scheme. However, in the case of wireless LAN, the wireless channel used when the display device communicates with the host computer is more likely to be in an infrastructure mode via an access point, while most of wireless keyboards and wireless mice currently in use are designed to directly communicate with the destination (display device in this case), and therefore the display device must be equipped with two or more wireless communication units. Moreover, the problem that the display device must support various types of input devices still remains unsolved.
One mode of avoiding constraints of these existing input devices may be to introduce an input device (hereinafter, referred to as “wireless LAN compatible input device”) equipped with a mechanism for carrying out a wireless communication with the host computer in much the same way as a wireless display. The wireless LAN compatible input device transmits, for example, input character information in the case of a keyboard or movement information of a pointer in the case of a mouse to the host computer through a wireless communication. The host computer receives this input information and applies it as the input to an application program to be displayed on the display device. By so doing, the display device side has no necessity to be provided with a mechanism corresponding to the input device.
When attempting to exploit the characteristic of portability of the display device to the fullest, it is desirable not to fix the correspondence between the display device and wireless LAN compatible input device. Furthermore, it is preferable to select a wireless LAN compatible input device which is near a display device every time the display device is used and use it in combination with the display device.
However, when a wireless LAN is used as the wireless communication unit, the reach of the wireless LAN is long and can also be extended using a wired LAN, and therefore there may be many wireless LAN compatible input devices on the same LAN. In order to determine which of these input devices should be used in combination with the display device, if all wireless LAN compatible input devices are displayed in the form of a list so as to allow the user to select one, the level of user convenience is low because the input function necessary for the display device is limited while there are many alternatives of the input devices.